[thechat] IT is here!

At 01:30 AM 12/5/01 +0000, Garrett Coakley wrote:
>On Tue, 2001-12-04 at 20:34, Chris Spruck wrote:
>> > Completely underwhelmed by IT,
>>Yeah.. but but... when you get off.. it stays upright!?!.. now thats
>cool!!
OK, I'll admit the pure geek in me agrees, after reading the detailed
specs, that it's a technological marvel, considering what it does and how
it does it. Gyroscopes and accelerometers? Sheesh! But when anyone starts
beating his chest and frothing at the mouth about changing the world a la
Jobs or Bezos, my BS meter flips on and goes into overdrive.
I agree with what Joe said earlier - basically we have a LOT bigger fish to
fry. How about fixing what's already broken instead of introducing
something else that, in some aspects - both physical and intangible, will
probably break too? Someone ought to start a betting pool for when the
first fatality occurs from an IT. Imagine all the litigation that will
ensue once someone falls off one, or twists an ankle or hits someone coming
out of a storefront? How well does it work in rain or ice? How many hours
and more importantly, taxpayer dollars, will local and state officials
waste debating regulations and whether it qualifies to be allowed on
sidewalks? (I know they're trying to head that off by getting the postal
service and police personnel to adopt them first).
Plenty of cities already have pedestrian- or bicycles-only zones, but of
course, the cities that need them the most are the ones that will never
consider it or supply appropriate infrastructure like usable mass transit.
Atlanta is the worst - one north-south and one east-west train line that's
great for tourists to get around the sightseeing corridor, but lousy for
residents who actually want to go someplace useful on a daily basis, and a
bus system that's sketchy at best with buses running seemingly at random.
Our air quality is worse than or close to Los Angeles on a regular basis -
you'd think that would be important to somebody, but apparently it's not.
Anyway, rant-off. As cool as something may be, I'm just really skeptical
about anything that's hyped until my ears bleed, including IT and all the
implied greatness that we've yet to see. Here's hoping I'm completely wrong.
And so this wasn't just a complete waste of your time, check for and update
your anti-virus definitions - there's a new worm out today that hits
Outlook and ICQ - details at
http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.goner.a@mm.html
Chris